State of the nation address postponed

Parliament’s speaker Baleka Mbete announced on Tuesday that the state of the nation address has been postponed.

Mbete said: "We've decided to approach the president of the republic to postpone the state of the nation address.

"We need to create room for establishing a much more conducive atmosphere in Parliament."

This comes after opposition parties requested that the speech, which President Jacob Zuma is scheduled to deliver on Thursday, be postponed until after a no-confidence vote on Zuma’s leadership.

The speaker of parliament has scheduled the no-confidence vote for February 22.

Mbete said that upon their meeting with Zuma, they learnt that he was also in a process of writing a letter to parliament regarding the postponement of Sona. They are yet to receive such a letter.

This comes after uncertainty over Zuma's future. It has been reported that the president will be formally asked to resign by the national executive committee when they meet on Wednesday.

Mbete and national council of provinces (NCOP) chairperson Thandi Modise also said that the address will not be postponed by over a week as they do not want the budget speech by Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba to be affected. The budget speech is scheduled for February 21.